The first challenge was coming up with a way of working and protocol that suited all our different ways of working, schedules,time prioritisation, time zones, information storage platforms. By setting up a BIM naming convention and filing system on GoogleDocs, we were able to manage information (such as GIS opensource data) in line with international best practice and ensure the whole team had live access and could contribute to all documents. We held weekly web-meetings on Zoom. To minimise the communication paperwork and emails, without compromising on quality of communication, we recorded our meetings, and used Slack and Whattsup for daily correspondence. This saved us time which we spent on actually doing more work.

Simulation of workshops - one of the main challenges of working long distance is the risk of missing out on the innovative team brainstorming and idea sharing that is so critical to multidisciplinary projects. We recreated this remotely by using Realtime Board and Zoom screen-sharing to jointly edit and amend our working system and theory of change.

Keeping motivated - as with all projects, especially when you don't have the positive feedback of meeting and doing workshops in person, motivation can dwindle. To avoid this we created interim milestones every 1-2 months and took time to review our lessons learnt, aspirations and progress every month and also celebrate our successes. This also helped maintain an honest relationship and make sure that the timescales were challenging but also achievable for all parties and respectful of other commitments.

Making the best out of local knowledge - usually workshops and field visits give everyone in the team a common understanding of key problems first hand. I relied only on my local partners to capture that information and report back. This required a joint agreement on what information needed collecting and how we would measure quality. It also meant that Mary and Jane had to work harder to explain how things worked and what the challenges on the ground were. We did this by co-creating, piloting and refining a community survey. This process actually enabled us to uncover truths that might have otherwise not been discussed. It also meant that Mary and Jane as local experts really took the lead in investigating their own context, liaising with stakeholders and representing the project team at international gatherings like the Urban Thinkers Campus. The benefit was also that their input provided the project with an immediate sounding board for testing the appropriateness of different ideas, solutions or methodologies proposed.

Overall what I enjoyed most about this collaboration is that I got to see the local challenges through the eyes of local experts and navigate with them through a prioritisation process to distill the best solutions - not just for their beneficiaries, but for their own organisations. Speaking on behalf of the team I believe all three organisations learnt and broadened their planning, impact assessment and communication skills through the process.

The final project business case is now being formulated and is ready to receive funding so don't hesitate to get in touch with the team if you want more info! anna@theconfluencers.com; janewakibera@gmail.com;